A/N: I'm back again with another chapter for you guys!! This time it's a bit longer! Let me know if you prefer the longer chapters. Another thing, whilst I have you here…I included a "previously…" with an excerpt from the last chapter. Do you find that helpful or not? Let me know in a review! :)

Previously…

I need to find Aang and the others…and I don't see that happening if I stick around playing Painted Lady here for much longer…

A few more minutes passed and Katara's bottom grew numb from sitting on the hard planks, feet dangling over the murky river.

Get it together, Katara. Remind yourself of the plan.

Find your friends.

The dark haired boy she'd happened across earlier was her best bet.

If anyone can find Aang, it's him.


After a long hour spent trying to convince Katara of the truth, Zuko's head was pounding.

I can't believe that girl! Zuko griped to himself as he walked across the street to their temporary dwelling.

We just happen to be in the same village one time and she thinks that I'm after her!

The door shut behind him with a loud thud.

Well, you did chase her and her friends around the globe…and tie her to a tree. A small voice whispered.

Shut up, he thought back, annoyed that he would even point that out to himself.

Throwing down the bundle of clothing, he took a seat, folding his legs beneath himself.

Not that it was necessarily wrong to point out, but that realization just seemed to add another thing to his already lengthy list of things he was going to have to apologize for.

Zuko truly had came a long way since the night he'd tied Katara to the tree. The boy he was then and the young man he had since turned into were two very different individuals.

At that point in his life, Zuko had been banished only to be sent on a wild turkey-duck chase for a man who hadn't been seen in over a hundred years. Then, once discovering that the Avatar was alive and in the body of a twelve year old boy, nonetheless…

It was infuriating for him to have so much difficulty getting his hands on the one thing that could get his supposed honor and promised throne back from his father.

Zuko's golden eyes settled on Iroh's belongings across from him on the floor.

Frankly, Iroh and his experiences gained traveling were the only reasons Zuko was the man he was today. Iroh's unconditional love for him had slowly chipped away at the fiery and wounded parts of him. He'd helped him see and most importantly understand love.

The telltale sound of a rapid onslaught of fireballs instantly yanked Zuko's mind out of his introspection. Someone screamed and he jumped to his feet. He ran out from the makeshift room, peering out into the daylight.

A middle aged woman with dirty brown hair and filthy clothes clutched a burlap sack to her chest. Her eyes were sparkling with tears. One was swollen and red-purple.

A man roared. Another barrage of fireballs whizzed by, the woman barely jumping out of the way. She hit the deck with an oof.

Clothes and a small stuffed brown bunny hopped out of her bag, scattering from the force.

Zuko abruptly turned, snatching his sheathed swords up from just inside.

"I-I'm sorry!" She sobbed, scrambling back.

The man came into view. His clothes were nicer then the ones the villagers wore and his hair was pulled up into a topknot.

Zuko moved forward to go help the woman with the bag and the man, but he was beat to it.

A girl - Katara - appeared from behind the woman, a fierce look on her face.

Katara's hand dropped to her side. She'd instinctively reached for the water skin she kept there before realizing she couldn't risk waterbending, not yet at least.

"What is your problem?!" She snarled at the man.

The man in question seemed to be shocked that she had the balls to stand up and defend the woman.

She knelt next to the woman, gently placing her hand on her shoulder and looking her over. Her brown eyes met Katara's big blues.

"J-June, it's okay."

"Little girl," he slurred. "This is between myself and Pepper. Stay out of it."

Katara stood up.

"No. It's not okay," she said to Pepper.

The young waterbender leveled her gaze on the man, her eyes raking him once over for any weapons. "If you have a problem with Pepper, you can take it up with me. There's no reason for you to be firing fireballs."

Pepper scrambled to her feet, scooping up the clothes and shoving them into the sack.

The man snorted, staggering forward.

Was he drunk?

"Gggive me my son." He said to Pepper, ignoring Katara.

Katara's eyes widened and she looked at Pepper and then to the small house behind her.

Pepper whimpered and the man raised his hand, summoning a flame.

Zuko stiffened. He pulled one sword out, the blade ringing against the other in the sheath.

Katara's head whipped around at the noise.

They met eyes for a moment before Zuko stepped out to the street.

He bent down, picking up the children's stuffed bunny from the ground.

"Here," he held the bunny out to Pepper.

"What part of this is between myself and Pepper don't you understand?"

Zuko moved his gaze to the man, finally getting a good look at him. It was one of the soldiers he'd chased off the night prior.

He was definitely wasted.

"The part where you threaten your child's mother with violence." Zuko's voice was dangerously calm. The blade's weight was a comfort in his hand. "You may not feel you need to listen to her-" he nodded his head in Katara's direction. "But you have to listen to me."

"Oh yeah? Or what?" The man snarled, slinging the fire in his hand at Zuko.

The swordsman quickly reacted, parrying the blaze with ease.

"Dad?" A little voice asked from behind the trio and the man's gaze flickered back.

A scared look drifted across the boy's face.

The father's face softened. "Heeey buddy, why don't you come here and we can go to Grandpa's?"

Pepper stiffened, not turning around for a moment.

"Baby," she called, her eyes not leaving the father. "Go back inside."

The boy whined.

"Baby," she said again, glancing at Zuko briefly before turning to look at her son.

The little boy's eyes widened at the state of his mother's face and he scurried back into the house, the door shutting behind him.

The man let out another roar, charging Zuko like an angry boar-q-pine.

Zuko batted aside a torrent of fire before managing to smack the man with the fat edge of the sword.

He staggered backwards in surprise. Zuko raised his fist and decked the man, sending him flying back on his rear.

The young man waited for a moment before deciding the drunk was down for the time being. He sheathed his sword.

"Thank you," Pepper stared at Zuko, tears glimmering in her eyes. "Both of you." She looked to Katara. "I don't know how I can ever thank you enough."

Katara reached out and rubbed the woman's shoulder.

"Go check on your son, Pepper."

Pepper smiled tearfully at them both, dipping her head before running to the house.

Katara stood there for a moment in silence, before turning to meet Zuko's eyes once more.

Her blue orbs considered him carefully for a moment. "Thank you."

Zuko studied her face, a serious expression on his own. "It's nothing," he said gruffly.

"Really, Zuko." She murmured. "I don't know what I would have done."

She gestured around her and he knew she meant that she was defenseless, not being able to bend.

Yet she still stood up for the woman…

Zuko was briefly reminded of Avatar and his friends doing the same thing for Iroh in the crystal catacombs.

They held each other's eyes for a moment more.

Katara tore hers away first. "I'm…I'm going to go check on Pepper…

~0~

The Blue Spirit crept out of the shadows, the twin broadswords an ever comforting weight against his back.

The young man beneath the mask hadn't expected to don his alter ego again, especially not after being…retired.

Zuko thought back to his quiet life he'd lived for those few short weeks in Ba Sing Se.

Jin.

The Jasmine Dragon.

All of it.

Yet here he was. It was funny how the universe played some things out. Perhaps this would all end up being for the best.

The Blue Spirit was his best option to safely rid the village of the Fire Nation soldiers. He could risk being seen, without risking an even greater threat on his head.

Besides, he had made a promise to her.

The Painted Lady's serene gaze came to the front of his mind and Zuko felt the same sense of awe wash over him.

A sparkle of blue eyes beneath the veil.

"All I ask is that you help the citizens of the river in return."

He could think of no better way to help these people then to rid them of their General Mung problem.

Their Fire Nation problem. A meek voice inside him reminded. Their own nation.

That factory needed to go.

Once it was out of commission, the villagers could - and hopefully would - help themselves. Cleaning the river wouldn't necessarily be an easy task, but perhaps they could find a way.

The crescent moon offered a little light to Zuko as he dropped himself down onto the raft-boat.

He rummaged through the barrel Dock kept his rowing poles in, pulling out one that was a bit longer to compensate for the few inches Zuko had on the older man.

Zuko pulled the anchor off the raft and placed it back on the dock. With a shove of his arm, he was on his way.

It had been some time since he'd been inside one of his father's factories. The last time he'd been to one had been the time he was following a lead on the Avatar, long before Katara and her brother had found the young boy.

Five minutes passed and Zuko reached the banks on the left side of the factory. Sweat dripped down his face beneath the mask and his arms and sides burned. He stepped off the raft and onto the rocky terrain before hoisting the boat onto the bank.

After a careful inspection of the drains feeding into the river, Zuko surmised this was one of the factories that manufactured a variety of metals for the war.

Months before, he could recall Zhao and Iroh discussing some of the new factories that were going up across the Fire Nation. The armor that they were able to create with the new type of metal was unprecedented.

Zuko stared up at the building that was even now pumping plumes of smoke into the air and polluted water into the river.

He didn't move for some time, deep in thought.

Do I really want to do this?

They make armor for the war…

Children's laughter echoed in his mind.

"Grumpypants!"

A young face with sunken eyes and protruding ribs grinned at him mentally.

His heart ached.

~0~

Katara, dressed entirely as the Painted Lady, slowly approached the factory. She made sure to keep fog trailing behind and around her.

Tonight was the night she was going to try to destroy the factory. Or, at the very least put it out of commission.

She traveled slower across the water then she usually would. Spending extra energy on her first trip across didn't seem wise, seeing as how she had no way of knowing how the night could go.

I'd hate to spread myself too thin.

Her blue eyes looked to the moon, a thin crescent of light in the dark blue-black sky.

Ugh, Spirits, I would kill for a full moon right about now…

Wind kissed her face as it stirred, moving from the trees to across the river. Katara felt the water droplets that made up the fog move in the breeze and she concentrated for a moment, pulling them back.

As she grew closer towards the shore on the left side of the factory, her eyes caught movement.

Someone was standing on the bank!

Freezing a small patch of water beneath her feet, she came to a stop.

The figure was dressed in all black. Katara was a bit surprised on how long it took her to notice them.

Squinting in the dark she watched them leap upwards, arms stretching and grabbing ahold of the cliffside.

She cocked an eyebrow at their attempt to climb the cliff.

Why wouldn't they take the easier route? Her eyes flickered over to the gradual slope of the shore that lay 100 feet away.

Curious now, she froze an ice path like stepping stones closer to the bank.

By then, the figure was easily twenty feet into the air. A delicately gilded scabbard was strapped to its back. A strange outline was around the person's head.

Watching closer, she waited until they took another jump to reach a higher handhold to get a better look at what she was seeing.

Four points were above their head, the moonlight reflecting off the white paint.

It was a mask!

A few more impressive climbs and twenty more feet later, Katara realized who it was.

The Blue Spirit!

She bit her lip, resisting the urge to call out to him - or at least, she assumed it was a him. She didn't want to startle him into falling off the cliffside.

At that point, he was over halfway up the cliff and showing no sign of stopping.

What's he doing at the factory?

~0~

Zuko hoisted his right leg up and over the edge of the cliffside. Gripping the packed dirt with his knee and foot, he pulled his body up and over the rest of the way. He was thankful to be back on flat ground.

Yeah…I'm not going back out that way if I can help it.

If his body wasn't sore from paddling across the river, it sure would be now.

Serving tea and living life in a cushy apartment had made it easy to forget to practice his katas and stay active. Uncle stayed just as busy as he did, so he didn't have the older man to remind him either - not that he should need his reminder in the first place.

Enough of that- time to finish what I've started. Zuko pushed himself up to kneel on the ground.

After a deep breath and a wipe of his face, he secured his mask back to his head.

He took a long look back across the water. Tendrils of steam curled up from the dull surface, though he didn't see anyone or anything out there on the water.

He'd climbed up right beneath the catwalk leading to the second floor of the main room of the factory. If he was right, and this was a factory that produced the new metals, the main room would house the cooling chambers for the metal and the cooling systems.

No cooling chambers and no cooling system…no production.

No production meant no factory.

His ears picked up on the softest clang.

The Blue Spirit pulled himself up under the stairs of catwalk and into the shadows, pressing his body against the bottom of the steps.

Must be a patrol, he thought as the clanging slowly grew louder and footsteps became audible.

Just one soldier…

They sounded like they came from the same side of the building, probably further down…good to know…

Zuko waited until it was quiet once more before slipping out of the shadows.

He stood up and took in the surroundings of the factory. He suspected he was situated on the back half of the factory.

Zuko assumed that there was an entrance post of sorts on the far side, the direction the patrol had came from. From where he was positioned, he could see two alleyways. One, going directly between the main building and the smaller building on its left, and the other alleyway on the other side of the smaller building.

Just past the last building was a chainlink fence, and he supposed that the fence ran the perimeter of the factory.

Let's see what kind of supplies they keep around here…maybe I can get lucky and come across some gunpowder and charges.

He headed down the alleyway, senses on high alert. It was already difficult enough at times to see out of his mask and the unfamiliar territory and lighting made it that much more difficult.

One after the other, the Blue Spirit searched the rooms in the left smaller building. It seemed to be nothing but rooms smelting tools, storage of random ores and one lone break room. Time ticked by and Zuko began to wonder how frequently the guards made their laps of the premises.

He had just left the fourth room, when he noticed something was off.

The air felt muggy and humid, and a fog had began to creep through the factory.

Could it be her? Zuko wondered, squinting through the rapidly forming fog.

His eyes searched the haze for any indication.

It was no use.

The fog had seeped into the factory, rapidly saturating the alleyway.

Quiet footsteps sounded from down the alleyway.

Cursing, he darted across the alley, pushing himself against the opposite building's wall so he could crouch behind the steel beam that supported the upper catwalk.

~0~

Katara pulled her cloak tighter around her shoulders, fidgeting with the brooch that kept it in place. She hurried along the catwalk, wondering where the Blue Spirit had disappeared off to.

Don't worry about him, she thought to herself. Worry about not getting caught.

She made it to the entrance and pulled the heavy metal door open. Heat from the inside came rushing out, striking her face.

A small sound of disgust and discomfort left her mouth before she could help herself. "Eughh."

She left the door ajar, striding over to the edge of the railing. Buckets hung from thick chains and hooks on both sides of the room. Looking down, she saw multiple vats of lava, spread out across the floor in equal sized squares.

Widening her legs and 'screwing' her feet into the floor, Katara shifted into her stance.

It was one she had come up with that was a bit similar to the Earth bending stances she'd seen Aang and Toph use.

She closed her eyes for a moment, feeling the water from the reservoirs stationed on the roof of the building.

The sheer amount of it made her limbs tingle. It was the purest source she'd felt in a while.

They must have a filtration system for it!

Raising both her arms, she felt the water swell as she summoned it forward.

A massive torrent of water rushed in through the trio of windows behind her. The sound of glass shattering was washed away in an instant.

With a pivot and a fluid chop of her arm, a stream of water traveled across the room, slicing clean through all the chains holding the buckets up.

The remainder of water filtered through the holes in the catwalk for a moment before she sent it further, making it flow off the edge like a waterfall.

The lava pits hissed and gurgled below.

~0~

The footsteps grew louder and it took Zuko a few moments to realize that they were above him, on the catwalk.

He craned his neck, trying to get a look through the holes in the metal flooring above him.

A door above creaked open. He could have sworn he heard a small noise of disgust.

Zuko began a quiet jog down the alley, wanting to get a better look.

All was quiet for a moment. The fog around him began to dissipate.

He'd just made it up the stairs and onto the ramp when he saw water cascade off the roof and smash through the windows.